{"id":919,"date":"2018-09-21T16:33:41","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T16:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/?p=919"},"modified":"2018-09-21T16:49:22","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T16:49:22","slug":"moving-to-a-new-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/moving-to-a-new-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving to a new place!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi!<\/p>\n

This is my first blog post, so I ought to introduce myself. I\u2019m Shannon and I just started my Master\u2019s in Sociology at MUN in Fall 2018. I drove out here from southern Ontario on an epic 3-day journey with all the worldly possessions that could fit in my car. My dad and my dog came too and, honestly, they took up a lot of space so many things got left behind. Things like keep-sakes, furniture, blankets, clothing, and my cell phone charger (but that was an accident, a very tragic thing to forget). I learned a lot on my drive out to Newfoundland and subsequent house-hunting adventures, so now I\u2019ll share some of the sage advice I\u2019ve come up with.<\/p>\n

If you have a long drive, prepare for it seriously. I\u2019m lucky that my dad was available and willing to drive out with me, otherwise it would have been an impossible drive for me. Over three days of driving, we averaged 12 hours on the road with break in-between for food and to let my dog walk around. I\u2019ve never driven more than 6 hours solid myself, so splitting the drive was a huge help. We would trade driving duty approximately every 4 hours, or whenever the driver didn\u2019t feel fit to drive. When not driving, I took naps or fed my dad and dog snacks. It was a good system! But the biggest help for the drive was having a good audiobook to listen to. Some of my friends recommended a long fantasy novel for the drive and boy were they right. The audiobook was engaging, entertaining, had a good story, and it had an amazing reader. It was much better than repetitive music for keeping the driver awake and alert, even on the boring drive through Ontario and Quebec. We even enjoyed the audiobook so much that we finished listening to it even once we had settled into St. John\u2019s. My pro Moving-Halfway-Across-Canada tips so far: don\u2019t forget your phone charger, split driving duties with someone, and get a good audiobook!<\/p>\n

Hunting for housing is a very different search for everyone. The overwhelming advice I got was to not sign a lease or get into a contract until I had been toured around the house. You don\u2019t want to get scammed by someone online who doesn\u2019t own the property, only to come to Newfoundland to find someone else living in your new home (that you\u2019ve already paid for). The only way to avoid that is by looking for housing right when you come out here or living at a university residence. Or, I guess, moving in with someone you already know (but I unfortunately didn\u2019t know anyone in St. John\u2019s). Ultimately, staying in a motel for a few nights is worth it rather than settling for poor housing. I had to be extra picky because I needed a house that was dog friendly and would accommodate me leaving my dog home during class time, but it worked out because I was willing to take my time searching! So tips: put in effort while looking for housing, and expect that it will take some time.<\/p>\n

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It’s Randy. He’s a black standard poodle and about 10 and a half months old.<\/p><\/div>\n

But now that I am in a house in a new province, I find it very lacking. The house is wonderful, but it\u2019s completely empty of furniture and a homey atmosphere. Furniture is expensive when you\u2019re a poor student, and Ikea isn\u2019t a cheap option on the Rock (which I had to learn the hard way). People aren\u2019t even that great at responding to their own Kijiji adds, so how are you supposed to make your empty new digs feel like home? Go out and immediately buy necessities. For me, that was tea and stuff to make tea with, a mattress, dining table, and at least one chair. With a hot cup of tea in my hand, I knew that I could handle anything else. The table is currently serving double duty as my desk and dining table, and the mattress is, of course, my reprieve from being on my feet all day running around campus. Other than that, I\u2019m still living out of garbage bags and boxes. Being a poor student isn\u2019t a glamorous lifestyle, but it does teach you a lesson in regards to minimalistic living, and it teaches you that you can live without a lot of luxuries. However, you don\u2019t need to live without some comfort, so invest in things that will make you feel more comfortable in your home. Tea is a big one for me, but posters, a fuzzy blanket, candles, or your favourite snack food are cheap ways to make your space more comfortable. Basically, my tip for living within your means is: only get what you absolutely need at first and get some things to make your space feel like home. If you\u2019re worried about bigger furniture pieces, don\u2019t. You can accumulate those over time, but there\u2019s ultimately no rush to buy an expensive couch or bookshelf.<\/p>\n

One thing I anticipated and feared for moving this far away from home is not having friends. I came to St. John\u2019s knowing only my grad supervisor and no one else. I had no friends, no family, no social network at all. Luckily, I learned how to quickly develop a network through trial and error in my undergrad! Before I got internet installed in my house, I settled for company from my dog and gave him extra snuggles. But once I had access to internet, the networking began. Memorial University has a ton of clubs and every single one has a Facebook group. Find your group of interest, join it, and check for upcoming events. Also, don\u2019t be afraid to message the group because I know every club is happy to have new interested members! I also looked for community groups in St. John\u2019s that suited my interests and sent out emails and requests. Another quick way to make friends or connections is, and this may sound ridiculous, to use Tinder. If you don\u2019t know what Tinder is, look it up. It\u2019s a dating app, but it\u2019s excellent for finding friends too and at least to chat with people if you\u2019re feeling a bit lonely. It helps you get exposure to the social community very efficiently, and you just have to take a small step of messaging someone to make friendship happen. Here, my tip is to: push yourself to be extra social and explore new avenues for meeting people. It\u2019s hard at first if you\u2019re not already a social person, but you get better and less nervous with every message you send. And if not this, then take the initiative to say hi and chat with people once classes start up! I made my first Newfoundland friend while waiting for my seminar to begin. It\u2019s as easy as commenting on the weather and then asking how they\u2019re doing. Boom! Friendship!<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m saying is that moving to a new place is tough and you need to be prepared. Both prepared with a good audiobook and prepared to talk with complete strangers in the hopes of finding common ground. It does seem pretty scary for a while, but I was shocked at how quickly I settled into St. John\u2019s and living in a new place. I\u2019ve already developed a routine with my dog and it\u2019s only been two weeks. Before the big move, I had kept reassuring myself that humans are meant to adapt to new challenges and places, it\u2019s how we survive. Turns out that I was right, we do adapt and quickly! So what if I\u2019m living out of garbage bags for a bit? Things will sort out and I\u2019ll eventually get furniture to put my clothes away in, but why stress out and rush it? I\u2019ve got time and should be focusing on school and maintaining a budget too. So I\u2019ll be doing that and will give updates on how it\u2019s going later!<\/p>\n

Cheers, and best of luck in your own lives!<\/p>\n

Shannon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi! This is my first blog post, so I ought to introduce myself. I\u2019m Shannon and I just started my Master\u2019s in Sociology at MUN in Fall 2018. I drove out here from southern Ontario on an epic 3-day journey with all the worldly possessions that could fit in my car. My dad and my … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-sgseditor","4":"post-919","6":"format-standard","7":"category-student-blog"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":932,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions\/932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}